Reconstructing Central Asian climate during the Cenozoic

We are working in Mongolia and Kazakhstan to produce some of the first Cenozoic stable isotope records from northern Central Asia. As part of an interdisciplinary, multi-university team, we are studying the rise of the Hangay Mountains in central Mongolia and the Altai Mountains at the intersection of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia (project website here). Further, we are examining the role of the mid-latitude westerlies and their interactions with these ranges to understand the drivers of long-term climate change in Central Asia. Such research will help us understand how global climate change, tectonics, and shifting seaways have altered climate on our planet’s largest continent over the past 60 million years.